Various user equipment such as computers (fixed or portable) mobile telephones, personal data assistants or organisers and so on are known by the skilled person. A user equipment can be defined as a means that the user may use for different tasks such as for processing information and/or for communication. A mobile user equipment referred to as mobile station can be defined as means that is capable of communication via a wireless interface with another device such as a base station of a mobile telecommunication network or any other station. Such a mobile user equipment can be adapted for voice, text message or data communication via the wireless interface.
A user equipment could also be used for exchange of confidential or private information such as exchange of data that associates with electronic transactions between two or more parties. The possible electronic transactions could include, without restricting the scope of this specification to these, transactions such as ordering of goods and/or services, transactions that associate with payment of purchased goods and/or services, provision of a receipt or other confirmation of payment or purchase, financial services (e.g. different banking services), betting services and so on.
A user equipment could also be used for exchange and/or storage of other confidential information such as personal identification data, passport data and so on. It shall thus be appreciated that in this specification the term ‘transaction’ is not restricted to commercial transactions between at least two parties but instead the term transaction refers to exchange of any confidential information.
A common transaction mechanism is required so that electronic transactions can be accomplished between two entities. In general term, a typical transaction mechanism can be defined to comprise features such as the communication media between the parties, predefined transaction protocols and parameters, predefined content transfer and presentation formats, security mechanisms and other functions that may also associate with an electronic transaction between the parties.
The inventors have found that at the present there is no common transaction mechanism that could be used by a user equipment for electronic transactions with different parties and/or for situations where a transaction involves a new party. Instead, a user of a user equipment may be prevented from the transaction for simple reason that his/hers user equipment cannot co-operate with the other party of the transaction. In addition, the inventors have also found that it could be advantageous if the transaction mechanisms of a user equipment could be modified from time to time e.g. for security reasons or to keep the user equipment updated with the most recent developments of the electronic transaction mechanisms. It could also be advantageous if a transaction mechanism could be initiated i.e. invoked based on a request by the user.